First 35 and 40 on the race course

New Victory for Team Normar Team Normar skippered by Jorn-Erik Ruud, well known from last year China Cup, did well during the weekend in their new First 40. They ended up first in the large ORCI class in front of a lot of production boats and King Harald of Norway in his TP 52. They are thereby well positioned for an over all victory in the national 2009 NORC ranking series.
This event was also the occasion to see the new First 35 in her first race. Just below, read the comments of her skipper, Even Larsen, BENETEAU dealer in

Norway. “The boat was put in water at lunch time last Thursday and there were just time enough for a few hours of sailing and adjustments on Friday before racing on Saturday. Even if we were not perfectly prepared, the weekend turned out quite well: The weather stayed perfect with lots of sunshine and good wind condition, steadily increasing during the day from 3 knots in the morning to approx. 20 knots in the afternoon. We therefore had a perfect opportunity for a two day test of the boat under different conditions against the best race crews of the region. Our team in the First 35 did a series of 4 counting races ending 3rd, 1st, 4th and 5th, resulting in a 2nd place over all under the LYS rating system. Only seconds separated the top boats in all the 1 hour races. When comparing our performance against the First 36.7, the boat proved to be very fast upwind fra approx. 6-8 knots of wind. We only carried a medium genua onboard, so up wind courses in light airs were a

struggle. The boat proved to be very fast downwind in all conditions. Our conclusions are clear: BENETEAU and Farr Yacht design have again created a fast boat, well put together and at a favourable cost. We raced a standard aluminium racing version, without any racing preparation of the hull and with a budget sail inventory. Without any experience on this model we managed to keep boat speeds at the level of a well tuned production boats, yachts racing under a much higher rating. Compared to the First 36.7 we had better upwind boat speed in medium and heavy conditions and a bit less speed in light conditions, probably caused by lack of experience with the model and lack of light wind sails. Downwind we were faster under all

conditions. Beside the speed difference we find the First 35 to have a better lateral stability and a much better rudder effect. The boat thereby feels more “foregiving” at the helm and generally is easier to sail. For cruising purposes the boat has a much lighter atmosphere and feels more voluminous inside. The sleeping cabins are more spacious and finally we found a proper bathroom in a 35 feet cruiser / racer. The latter is very important in a sales situation, where we often need to find a balance between the female need of comfort and the “boy toy” arguments. The level of details is also generally higher on the new First 35. »
Reprinted from the Beneteau website.
SAILING WORLD REVIEW OF THE FIRST 40: http://www.sail-world.com/USA/index.cfm?SEID=0&Nid=55923&SRCID=0&ntid=0&tickeruid=0&tickerCID=0
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